Posts Tagged With: agnostic

Isn’t a follower of Jesus somebody who simply acknowledges him as ‘Lord’ and behaves as though this is so? Is that what God really wants from us?

If you answered ‘yes’, then what is the problem with Satan?…

‘When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, ”What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beg thee, torment me not.” ‘ Luke 8:28

Here is external worship. The devil is religious; he prays: he prays in a humble posture; he falls down before Christ, he lies prostrate; he prays earnestly, he cries with a loud voice; he uses respectable, honourable, adoring expressions – ‘Jesus, thou Son of God most high’… Nothing was wanting but love. (From The Good God by Mike Reeves, 2012)

Becoming a follower of Jesus causes a change in heart, rather than simply a change in actions. God wants our love, not for us to mindlessly carry out religious acts because we feel we have to. I dread to think of a God who gets kicks out of that.

The triune God is a million miles away from a ‘policeman in the sky’. I’ll be posting more on this at some point…

I used to think Jesus was just a good, moral teacher. I assumed he was always serious and probably a bit of a drag to have around.

Since reading the historical accounts of him, I couldn’t have been more wrong! There is an aspect of Him that I once overlooked, that is, Jesus was extremely sociable!

It’s shocking just how much people wanted to be around Jesus. He was hugely popular considering at the time on paper he was just a random homeless guy.

But the crowds swarmed around him. People were desperate to even touch his clothes. Many travelled for days just to see for themselves what the fuss was about.

He was that guy who got invited to all the parties.

He was popular with the ladies (especially unique considering how women were viewed back then)

The children loved him.

Jesus genuinely cared for every single person; he even hung out with the biggest outcasts in his society, including prostitutes, lepers and tax-collectors.

He was simply a delight to be around.

Sounds like the ultimate guy.

Of course, that’s not the whole story. What with tearing down temple markets and coming out with controversial claims such as ‘I have not come to bring peace but a sword’ – Jesus didn’t come simply to be Mr Happy Chap. If this man was telling the truth, he came to bring the most important message of all time. That he was coming to save the world… Sounds pretty outrageous doesn’t it?

What kind of guy claims to be equal with God?

Consequently, all of this exasperated the people around him… Leading to a mixed bag of views.

What is your view?

Those that didn’t seem to like him were ironically, the most religious folk of his day.

I wonder why?

Taken the other morning... It looked like a (many fingered) handprint in the sky!